Newsletter article for September 2003
© 2003 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff
Imagine if the only Bible verse the prodigal son knew or believed was Romans 12:15 where it says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” One day the son told his father that he was going out with his friends, and the father said, “Just be home before midnight.” The next day when the father woke up his son still wasn’t home. When the boy finally rolled in at noon with a big smile on his face he embraced his father and said, “Father, don’t be mad. You are going to be happy for me because I am happy. I had the time of my life last night. I spent the night with my friends drinking beer and smoking marijuana and we spent all our money on prostitutes. I have never had as much fun in my whole life and I want you to be happy as I am happy.”
What do you think the father would say to this prodigal son? If he truly loves his son he would never say, “Well, as long as you are happy then go and do as you please.” If he truly loves his son he would rather say, “How can I be happy for you? I told you to come home before midnight so that you wouldn’t get hurt destroying your body with alcohol and drugs, and so that you wouldn’t get infected with syphilis and AIDS and die a horrible prolonged death. Not only did you NOT do the one thing that I told you to do, you did everything I didn’t want you to do. You are grounded forever.”
Obviously the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15 didn’t end this way. In Jesus’ story the young man recognized his sin, repented, and came crawling back humbled to his father to beg for mercy. In return, the father welcomed him back joyfully as his son. In my modern version above, there is no redemption because there is no repentance. Without repentance the sinner will continue to willfully disobey what is good and proper and safe until he destroys himself and those around him also.
This illustrates one of the tasks that we have in our lives as Christians. Our obedience to God is not limited to simply how we live our own lives. We can’t be like Lot living in Sodom (see Genesis 19) thinking that all is well because we are obedient. We sometimes need to be like Jeremiah in Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 19) calling the sinners to repentance. We are to be witnesses to the world in all that we do, but that doesn’t always mean giving a cheerful message of the good news of the Gospel. Consider the prodigal son in my illustration above. If you came to him with a message of God’s love, forgiveness, and eternal salvation he would not pay any attention to you. Concerning love – he would say that it isn’t worth the trouble, and besides he gets more enjoyment out of a bottle of wine anyway. Concerning forgiveness – the prodigal would say that he doesn’t need it because in his mind he isn’t doing anything wrong. Concerning heaven – he would say he doesn’t need heaven because he already has as much fun as he can handle. Before this lawless person can enjoy the benefits of the Gospel he needs to know and understand the law.
Fortunately for him (and for us) God doesn’t immediately “ground us forever.” That remains an option, and He would be well within His rights and power to do so, but God is patient with us. God calls sinners to repent, and He usually gives them a little time to come around and see things His way. That is what we are here for. We are to help sinners to see the error of their ways so that they can appreciate and accept the wonderful message of the Gospel. Once the sinner sees the consequences of his sins then he may be ready to receive forgiveness, and we should always be ready to forgive even the worst sinners.
We live in a world which is increasingly like the prodigal son that I described at the opening of this essay. Our society is increasingly more tolerant of sin and depravity and much less tolerant of righteousness and God’s Law. This makes the task of the Christian much less popular. We will find ourselves tested in our faith much more often. This is not a comfortable place to be, but it is where God wants His faithful people to be for the sake of the heathen. God has given us His Word to prepare us and strengthen us so that we can be where we need to be to lead others to their salvation, but we need to be careful that we do not fall into the temptations which enslave the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment